Evidence
Anyone may submit evidence to the Authority. Independent scientific work and the knowledge of the people living in a territory both enter on the same footing.
Submitting evidence or an objection
State the head of the budget concerned, what the evidence shows, and how it was obtained. Evidence may be lodged at any communal office, by letter, or through the public information system, free of charge, in any language of record.
An objection lodged during the ninety days of Article 25(3) receives a written public answer, and the final budget states any change made in consequence.
Evidence lodged outside that window is examined at the next revision, and may found a petition under Article 25(4) where it is new.
Local knowledge as evidence
The Authority collects and examines the knowledge held by inhabitants of an affected territory concerning its condition and history. Records of when a watercourse last ran dry, where a marsh formerly reached, or which fields flooded in living memory are evidence about that territory, and are treated as such.
Who else submits
| Body | Basis | What it submits |
|---|---|---|
| Commissioner for Future Generations | Article 257(5) | Evidence on transfers to succeeding generations, on the same terms as any other person or institution |
| Audit Office | Article 249(2) | Findings from audits conducted in the ecological accounts of Title II |
| Communes and regions | Article 25(1)(c) | Ecological studies and monitoring records |
| Cooperatives and enterprises | Article 25(1)(a) | Reports on their own operations. Failure to furnish is an offence. |
| Worker and consumer assemblies, unions | Article 25(1)(b) | Reports and objections |
The monitoring system
The Authority maintains the monitoring system of Article 35. Measurements are published as they are taken, and the falsification of ecological data is an offence under Article 35(3). The Audit Office transmits any file disclosing such an offence to the prosecution service.
Uncertainty
Evidence establishing that a harm may be larger than assumed is acted upon without waiting for the uncertainty to end. A submission is therefore useful even where it reports a wide uncertainty, provided it states how the figure was obtained.